Moonlit Night

Moonlit Night
By Tu Fu

The moon tonight in Fu-chou
She watches alone from her chamber,
While faraway I think lovingly on daughters and sons,
Who do not yet know how to remember Chang-an.
In scented fog, her cloudlike hairdo moist,
In its clear beams, her jade-white arms are cold.
When shall we lean in the empty window,
Moonlit together, its light drying traces of tears.


After the rebellion of 755, the capital, Chang-an, was taken by Lushan rebels. As an officer, Tu Fu was trying to serve his country. Unfortunately, on his way to Ling-wu, Tu Fu was trapped by rebels and transferred to Chang-an. Moonlit Night was created by Tu Fu during that time.

Tu Fu started his poem with “the moon tonight in Fu-chou” (where his family lived). Even though he did not use any words like miss my wife, etc., his wife and he was watching the same moon tells readers that he really missed his wife in Chang-an just like how his wife missed him in Fu-chou. Not only missed his wife, Tu Fu missed his children as well. “While faraway I think lovingly on daughters and sons, who do not yet know how to remember Chang-an.” I think what Tu Fu tried to tell was his kids were too young to know why their mom was watching the moon (and missing the husband) in order to express his wife’s loneliness and sadness. Through describing his wife’s body shape under the moon light, he fantasized about that his lovely wife was standing beside him. Although that was just his imagination, he still hoped the day their reunion. “Moonlit together” shows that he expected he could hug his wife and she could nestle against his chest watching the moon as light as tonight’s. So Moonlit Night describes Tu Fu couple missed each other during that chaos time.

In Chinese history, Tu Fu was a really great poet rather than a successful officer. Because of his rough experiences in his life time, most of time, he was not there with his family. Therefore, his poems were mostly based on suffering the emotion of missing the family.

Sakuntala and the Ring of Recollection

I really like this love story. Although, as a love story, the content of it is sort of normal as well as the ending which is ended by a happy reunion of king, Sakutala, and their son, the element of kinship is contained within the whole story, and some parts of that touched me while I was reading Sakuntala and the Ring of Recollection.
Between Kanwa and Sakuntala, we can feel the strong kinship even though kanwa is not Sakuntala’s real father. Kanwa is a very nice sage. He took care of Sakuntala after he found her in the forest, and, in fact, he called Sakuntala daughter. At the day that Sakuntala was going to find her husband, the king, after she found out that she was pregnant, Kanwa walked around and sadly said: “My heart is touched with sadness since Sakuntala must go today, my throat is choked with sobs, my eyes are dulled by worry-if a disciplined ascetic suffers so deeply from love, how do fathers bear the pain of each daughter’s parting?” These heartfelt words coming from a father who really loves his daughter and worries about her future married life.
When the king Dushyanta first saw Bharata without knowing his identity, the subtle feeling between them was made by Kaldasa. When the king saw Bharata was playing with a lion’s mouth, he said “Why is my heart drawn to this child, as if he were my own flesh? I don’t have a son. That is why I feel tender toward him…” If you have kids, then, I believe you will understand. I do not know how to describe it, but I think Kaldasa tried to tell people the kinship ties every family member. So what Dushyanta felt about Bharata at that first time was the special bond between a father and his child.

Analects

I still remember that, at the Beijing Olympic opening ceremony, there are 2008 people dressing like the students of Confucius, gathering on the center stage of the Bird’s Nest, and singing “Is it not a joy to have friends come from afar?” to welcome athletes and guests.
Like the theme of the ceremony trying to show the world, Confucius’ Analects displays the soul of Chinese culture which unifies the whole country.

The unit of Analects is not only an ancient literature but also the heritage of ethical and political and philosophy.
Obviously, Confucius advocated using “the rule of virtue” to guide the people.
In his sayings, Confucius kept telling us that virtue is principle for being a good person or even a great leader.
Even though people are not born with moral standards, it is never too late to learn how to embody rituals and behaviors, and that’s why the first book of Analects is about studying.

Generally, Confucius’ sayings of virtue focused on the relationship between people.
“To bring peace to the old, to have trust in my friends, and to cherish the young.” People’s goodness can be presented as the way how they treat others.
“Encourage the people to work hard by setting an example yourself.” To become a successful leader, it is the best way to convince the people to follow.

Confucianism is a guideline for people to think in the right path, to behave morally, to exalt virtue.